Chapter 5: Why Flower blossoms?

"Ashitaka...!" San's voice trembled with fear and cuddled with him for comfort.

"It's going to be OK San, I've been making a lot of promises lately, but I promise it will all be ok...I promise" His voice started to drone in that sentence, he wasn't losing his confidence, he was losing his soul.

With each step the harmful apparition took, his glance peirced through to the soul, he must have been the first demon, he started it all. The Farmer stepped diagnally then forward then horizontal. It seemed so funny, but when Ashitaka looked down to see closer, he was surprised it was a bunch of floorboards that were darker than the others. Was it a trap to step on the lighter ones? Or the Darker ones? Ashitaka then glanced behind him, the wall was still there, but the floorboards the same pattern. It didn't occur to him right away that San had led him inside this large chamber, so she knew about this already.

"San, what do the lighter floorboards do anyways when pressed upon?" Ashitaka's question gave way to an answer

"They make demons appear, as if you stepped onto their graves. They are like markers that mark where the demons died and their spirits lay, don't walk onthe light ones." San said

"There are so many of them then!" Ashitaka was baffled that so many once-living things died in this place.

The Farmer was quite close now, about 12 feet away from them.

"Ashitaka! Do something! I can't move at all!" Ashitaka was baffled, for once the situation wasn't under control which was quite bad indeed.

Ashitaka bent down to see that her feet were firmly planted into the ground by stray weeds. Ashitaka drew his sword as the pain in his physical body began and the strength was quickly drawing away. He began to cut and thrash at the weeds at Sans feet, but more and more grew back with each swipe of his vorpal blade. San kissed Ashitaka withso much love and feeling into it that the despair in the situtation lifted for the time being. He suddenly shot upright and went into his normal stance position, the Farmer drew backwards looking quite confused by the terror that was recipricated unto himself. Ashitaka feigned a move making the spirit flinch and fall upon a lighter floorboard. Ashitaka knew what he was doing as he meant to do this.

"Time for you to go back to hell, you demon." Ashitaka said and with that, he lunged his sword while keeping an eye on the darker floorboards and rammed the sword into what looked like the demon's heart.

The shiny dot disappeared and floated towards the sky as he fumbled back onto more lighter floorboards. San Gasped. Demons and more Demons arrised from their graves, slashing and groping at the Farmer through the darkness, pulling him down with them. The Farmer dissapated from sight and all that remained was a single flower blossom illuminated in the darkness.

"Why Flower Blossoms?" Ashitaka asked. After all the confusement of the night, he was even more confused right now.

"Oh Gawd! Jeez, that's a Matzamuto plant you idiot!" Ashitaka knew she meant to say that "idiot" with love, but he was confused.

"All this time, you mean to tell me, that a Matzamuto plant is another word for a flower blossom??? I-I-I" San hushed him and left him to stand there alone for the moment. She knelt down to the plant and prayed for quite a while before picking it u p and trudging back to her new lover.

"Here you are, one "Matzamuto Plant" or one "Flower Blossom" Whatever you want to call it." San said as she held it out to him.

Ashitaka thought for a moment about how ironic it had to be for him to go on such an adventure for a plant that had two names and you didn't know it did. It was confusing,. Matzamuto means flower blossom, in some ancient language, Ashitaka thought, but he didn't know it meant that at the time he heard it at the Medical Unit hours before. Thinking of medical, he needed to help Eboshi NOW, the moon was now telling 10:00PM and Ashitaka had until 3:00AM to give the plant to Eboshi.

"Ashitaka, don't worry, everything will be ok, I promise" She beamed a smile and kicked the once alive weeds at her feet as they got out of the complex.

To their surprise, Eboshi lay on crumbled drywall opening a room that revealed a white wolf, a spirit. The pure spirit bowed to them all, they, except Eboshi of course, bowed back to return the favor of kindness.

"How did Eboshi get here?! It's almost a four hour walk back to the cliff face!" Ashitaka gave in to this bout of confusement. He realized he should just let things role from now on.

The spirit drew a long, deep breath and spoke to them in great mortal effort, "I took...the mistress...here. Do not be alarmed...for she is safe if you...give her....the plant...right away."

San almost sounded close to bursting into tears when she heard that voice. Perhaps it was familiar?

"Tokamine, thank you. Thank you."

"My dear daughter, you are..welcome. I am....always here...I will always be...within the lady that lay at thy feet. I give my soul...to her."

"I want to see you again father! Please! I want to die to be with you!" Tokamine was the father wolf that hepled bring up San when she was left in the woods, he was her father as she did not know her biological one.

"I will shine through...her. I feel she...has...no soul....at all. I am with you, I am with her..." He faded into the bitter light that shone through the boarded window. He was gone.

San cried for a numerous amount of time while Ashitaka tried to feed Lady Eboshi the Flower Blossom. Little by little, the situation lightened up for all of them. Eboshi, now awake, lay there regaining her strength as her and San talk through their differences. Ashitaka might have thought wrong, but swore he thought he saw San glance over and beam a bright smile quickly to turn around again and talk to Laday Eboshi. Hand in Hand, San, Ashitaka, the living wolves, and Lady Eboshi walked back to the Cliff Face once more, only to depart once again...